Syria has blamed international sanctions for shortages of cooking gas and other basic goods in the country. The Syrian Oil Minister Sufian Allaw told reporters in Damascus on Wednesday that sanctions had cost Syria's oil sector about $4 billion. He said that the punitive measures were responsible or the shortages that have left Syrians across the country standing in queues to pay inflated prices for cooking gas, fuel, sugar and other staples. 

Prices for a tank of cooking gas have spiraled to some $25 as shortages have spread across the country. Allaw tolfd that a Venezuelan tanker carrying 35,000 tons of fuel docked in Syria on Tuesday and another will follow. Syria is also seeking to arrange further gas imports from Algeria and Iran. However, the U.S. ambassador to Damascus denied that the international sanctions are to blame for the shortages facing Syrians.